Tigers' Jackson learned from film study

Team USA coach used him to assist

Joe Jackson, playing in the Bluff City Classic, learned to see more of what was happening on the court by doing film work for U.S. team.

The Commercial Appeal files

Joe Jackson wasn't just a player for the U.S. in the recent FIBA Under 19 World Championships. He played the role of basketball film critic too.

As part of his point guard training, the University of Memphis sophomore was tasked with breaking down film of the team after practices. Head coach Paul Hewitt wanted Jackson to see the game from more than just his own viewpoint. Hewitt wanted Jackson to understand how all five players work in unison.

So Jackson analyzed what the U.S. team was doing right and what it was doing wrong, whether the shooting guard was in the correct spot on a defensive play, whether he had properly helped off the ball, and whether the rest of the team had rotated accordingly.

"Coach Hewitt would be calling me Coach Jackson and having me do the film session," said Jackson, dressed in a Team USA shirt and shorts on his second day back from Lithuania after the U.S.'s fifth-place finish. "I had to teach the guys. I had to criticize too, but most of the time I had to criticize myself because I didn't know the guys on the team well."

Jackson received criticism from more than himself, though. Some in the media pointed out his low assist-to-turnover ratio (37-to-30) as signifying he still lacks the qualities of a true point guard.

"It's easy to criticize, but what people don't understand is we practiced about nine times before we started playing," said Hewitt, adding, in a telephone interview, that some teams in the World Championships had been together for years. "If we had been together for a longer stretch of time, you would not have seen Joe's turnover numbers be what they were."

Jackson acknowledged he felt the criticism on Twitter afterward, and he said Wednesday it was eye-opening to see his flaws pointed out.

"It made it sound like I was playing the worst on the team," Jackson said.

That was not a sentiment Jackson shared. He heard Jim Boeheim tell Hewitt "that guy's not coming out of the game" after Jackson's tryouts for the team.

"These guys are going to be future lottery picks," Jackson said of his teammates, who included Connecticut's Jeremy Lamb and Florida's Patric Young. "I kind of outplayed them, the first whole week. I was dominating practices. And in the game, they didn't think twice to put it in my hands and I was making stuff happen the first couple of games."

That "stuff" he made happen was scoring 11.6 points per game, second on the team, and shooting 44.8 percent. Jackson noted the ease with which he sliced through the opposition's defense with his quickness.

"It seemed like every time I was taking two or three dribbles I was getting to the basket," Jackson said. "I was wondering, like, man, nobody could stay in front of me. I was getting in the paint and creating whenever I wanted to."

Hewitt called Jackson "one of my favorites" on the team for his willingness to listen to coaches. Although the time the two spent together was limited, they developed mutual respect. Hewitt named Jackson the captain of a talented squad. Jackson told Hewitt how he liked his laid-back and liberating coaching style, which contrasts with Josh Pastner's "strict" approach.

"We sat in the room, late night, like, three hours talking," Jackson said. "I was telling him how much I really appreciate playing for him. Because it's so different. He gave me so much freedom to do whatever I want to do on the court. Every time that I did something I didn't need to do, he wasn't just jumping on me. He was a good coach for me up there, to tell you the truth."

Now, Jackson is ready to return to Memphis -- he did admit he was a little homesick by the end of the Lithuania trip, although Hewitt said he never sensed that -- and work toward the college season.

"He's very realistic with how he assesses his game," said Hewitt, head coach at George Mason. "He wants to continue to get better. And this experience will serve him well."